50-year-old Veronica Rodriguez was home in College Station, Texas last week, and heard a noise in the bathroom. And if she wasn't ALREADY afraid of snakes . . . we're guessing she is now.

Because when she turned on the lights to the bathroom . . . she found herself face-to-face with a 12-FOOT AFRICAN PYTHON. Somehow it had managed to get into her house, and was hanging out in her bathtub.

So she slammed the door, ran outside, and called 911. A cop showed up with a small grocery bag to put the snake in, but he ended up calling animal control . . . who showed up with a 10-gallon bucket. And that STILL wasn't CLOSE to big enough.

Finally, they decided to use a city TRASH CAN . . . and they managed to get the snake inside. Then they sealed up the trash can . . . and left it by the side of Veronica's HOUSE until the next morning, when they could transport it to a rescue facility.

Apparently this python wouldn't have been dangerous to any adults . . . but it could've been dangerous to small children or pets. No one's quite sure where it came from or how it got into Veronica's house. (College Station Eagle)